Living in Saudi Arabia: Home

From the World Book Online

Saudi Arabia is a large Middle Eastern nation that ranks as one of the world's leading producers of petroleum. Much of the country consists of vast deserts where few people live and little or nothing grows. But beneath the sand and rock and the offshore waters of Saudi Arabia lie some of the largest petroleum deposits in the world.

Saudi Arabia exports more oil than any other nation. Wealth from these exports has made Saudi Arabia a leading economic power in the Middle East. Automobiles and trucks speed along highways where camel caravans once provided the only transportation. High-rise office buildings and large homes of concrete, steel, and marble have replaced nearly all the mud houses that once lined city streets.

Saudi Arabia includes about three-fourths of the land region called the Arabian Peninsula. The country is bordered by Jordan, Iraq, and Kuwait to the north; the Persian Gulf (which Saudis call the Arabian Gulf) and the United Arab Emirates to the east; Oman and Yemen to the south; and the Red Sea to the west. Riyadh is Saudi Arabia's capital and largest city.